


Laundry Day

by Griddlebone



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Flowers, Fluff and Angst, Laundry, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Series, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-23
Updated: 2016-01-23
Packaged: 2018-05-15 19:08:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5796379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Griddlebone/pseuds/Griddlebone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's laundry day and Kikyou is in one hell of a mood. Pre-canon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Laundry Day

Kikyou wanted to scream. The option of giving vent to her frustrations in this way was denied her, so she did not scream or cry, but merely stalked furiously down the path that led to the river. The weight of the basket on her back only served to drag her mood down even less pleasant paths as it threatened to unbalance her with every step.

Much like the scream that she would never voice, _it's never enough, is it_ lingered at the edges of her thoughts. She would not, could not, give voice to that sentiment, either. But there it remained, like the ghost of some woman she might have been, had things turned out differently. Had she been allowed to have human emotions and regrets like any other woman.

But she was not allowed such things.

She must do the impossible as easily as the ordinary. Most days, this was bearable. Today, it was… less bearable.

Many of the villagers had fallen sick lately, and many more were sure to catch the sickness soon, and it had inevitably fallen to Kikyou to care for them and see to it that they got well. It was Kikyou's duty to find the herbs to concoct the remedy to soothe their symptoms and make them more comfortable until the illness had passed. And while she ran herself ragged trying to tend to everyone else, she must also maintain perfect serenity so as not to taint the purity of the sacred jewel she guarded.

As it turned out, she must also do the laundry. And it was this, of all things, that had set her on edge.

Her sister Kaede usually helped her with the laundry and all the other day-to-day chores that needed doing. But Kaede had caught the same illness as the others and must rest today, which meant that Kikyou had to lug everything down to the river, wash it, and bring it back on her own. On top of everything else.

Thus, the thwarted desire to scream.

It was little solace to her that no one else had come down to the river yet today and she could at least seethe alone. Or, mostly alone.

She was halfway through the washing when she felt the sensation of eyes watching her. She sensed no malice in that gaze, only curiosity and perhaps a bit of a sneer.

"Hiding, Inuyasha?" she asked mildly.

He made a sound that was not a word, but nonetheless perfectly conveyed his derision for the idea that he might be hiding. "Watching," he admitted.

She paused in her washing, turning to look at him. And found that he had an armful of plants. Not just any plants, either. The ones she needed to gather later today to brew up some more of the soothing poultice that would ease her patients' breathing.

For a moment she could only stare at the incongruous image before her: Inuyasha, with his arms full of flowering plants. For one terrible, glorious instant she was not Kikyou. She was merely a girl. And Inuyasha was not Inuyasha the half-demon; he was merely a boy that she liked, who had brought her flowers. As any boy might bring to any girl that he also liked. It could never be like that, she knew, but for just one moment it _was_.

And then she finally found her voice. "Flowers?"

He looked abruptly contrite. "They're the ones you need, right?"

She nodded, surprised to find herself suddenly fighting a smile. "Yes, those are the ones. Thank you, Inuyasha."

Already she could see that he was back to his normal self, now that she had reassured him. "They're idiots," he grumped. "All of 'em."

Kikyou blinked at him, mildly confused by the sudden outburst, and waited for an explanation.

"What do they think they're going to do if you get sick, too?" he asked pointedly. If it had come from one of the villagers, it would have been just one more stone added to the weight that threatened to crush her. But in Inuyasha's voice she could hear the outrage that so much responsibility should be piled on the shoulders of a woman who was so very fragile. It was Kikyou he cared about, not the villagers.

Or perhaps she was hearing what she wanted to hear, and nothing more.

"Will you take those back to the village for me?" she asked, her voice sounding far steadier than she felt. "I'll follow when I'm done here."

He gave her a long, searching look, and then turned and was gone. Kikyou let out a shaky sigh and buried her face in her hands.

She was herself again by the time he returned from the village a few minutes later. He didn't say anything this time, but she knew he had come back. Did he think to keep an eye on her? A few weeks ago she would have found it irritating. Today it chased away the tiniest bit of her bad mood.

Even the rainclouds that had gathered and begun to sprinkle by the time she finished the washing couldn't restore all of her earlier frustration. And when Inuyasha hopped down from the tree where he'd been watching and gruffly insisted on carrying her basket for her, that frustration melted away entirely. On the verge of laughing, Kikyou found herself smiling for the first time in days.


End file.
